SOG is the IPSA Research Committee on the Structure and Organization of Government. It has been the academic sponsor of the journal Governance
since its creation by SOG in 1988. Learn more.

How relying on elites causes
peacebuilding
failures

The international community invests enormous resources in
peacebuilding but
sees modest results.
"It is the underlying theory of
peacebuilding
that is at fault,"Naazneen Barma writes in a commentary in the current issue of
Governance. The usual process of "institutional engineering" to promote
statebuilding
and democratization "becomes captured by elites, who co-opt interventions to achieve their own political objectives." Barma urges "A more clear-eyed and experimental approach to
peacebuilding
," that recognizes elite priorities and finds new ways of broadening political space.
Read the commentary.

Why sub-Saharan voters support corrupt politicians

Why do voters support corrupt politicians? In the current issue of
Governance,
Eric Chang and Nicholas Kerr examine voter attitudes and behavior in eighteen sub-Saharan African countries. They distinguish between outsiders and two kinds of insiders: those who belong to patronage networks, and those who share partisan or ethnic
affilations
with incumbents. "Patronage insiders" recognize higher levels of
corruption but
tolerate it, while "identity insiders" are simply less aware of political corruption.
Read the article.

UK agency autonomy: Not what it seems

Britain's "Next Steps" program was supposed to redefine the bargain between ministers and senior public service executives, granting more autonomy in exchange for more direct accountability. But it hasn't always worked out that way,
Thomas Elston explains. We need to distinguish explicit and tacit aspects of the "public
service bargain
," and recognize that these two aspects move "in and out of alignment with each other." In the UK justice sector, oversight of agencies is "far more hierarchical and contract based." But the appearance of independence allows politicians to make more intricate calculations about credit-claiming or blame-avoiding for agency activities. Read the article.

Brazil: Measuring capacity, explaining corruption

In a new article for
Governance,
Katherine Bersch, Sérgio Praça, and Matthew Taylor respond to calls for better measures of state capacity and bureaucratic autonomy at the subnational level. Their new measures are "objective and independent of
outcome
." And they allow exploration of the causes of corruption within Brazil. "Low capacity and autonomy are associated with higher corruption," they find. Single-party dominance also increases corruption through its negative effects on agency capacity.
Read the article.